Weekly Newsletter 06/30/2022

June 30th, 2022
by Dmitriy Zherebnenkov

Shalom!

Last Sunday we heard two wonderful sermons at both the Russian and English services. I’ll use this opportunity to talk about how we listen to sermons. Sermons are a common thing, so as a result, they’re not discussed very often. Today I want to discuss not the sermons themselves but their reception. Oftentimes, we get used to the status quo so we end up forgetting why certain things exist in the first place. “Preaching is God speaking in the power of His Spirit about His Son from His word through a man” (John Reed Miller). And the task of the preacher, as Spurgeon once said, is to preach the gospel in an understandable way to every individual.

But the task of the listener is to understand, accept, and apply the received word! If this is so, then how can a sermon be heard more effectively? Here are some practical ways to improve your listening:

1. Always look for the main point or idea of the biblical passage presented in the sermon. If you miss the main idea, then all the other supporting ideas have no meaning and direction. This past Sunday’s sermons were about the importance of Christ’s calling!

2. Always analyze your life to come to church with specific questions or needs. When you’ll be expecting an answer to your difficulties, weak points, and struggles, you’ll always find for yourself at least a small answer for your specific need. If I aim at nothing then that’s what I’ll always hit. When I have specific needs that I’m working with in my life, then the sermon becomes an important equipping source for wrestling and dealing with specific spheres of life. The Sunday sermons that we just heard uncovered the importance of having a deep prayer life with God, showed our complete dependence on God, and revealed the necessity of obeying the will of God! To grasp this better, learn to ask the following questions:

What does God want to tell me?
What does God want to reveal about Himself and His nature?
What does God want to reveal to me about sins in my life?
How is God encouraging me through this passage?
How does this passage affect my worship, my commitment, and my faithfulness toward God?
How did this sermon bother me and cause me to think?
What does God want me to do in light of what I heard?

3. Learn how to listen to a large swath of information from the sermon. For this, throughout the week, don’t just entertain yourself with light, unnecessary information, but force your mind to strain in understanding difficult books, texts, sermons, or discussions. When you’ll have constant, healthy pressure on your mind, it’ll be much easier to understand an hour-long sermon.

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Scripture To Memorize

Psalm 51:1-3

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
³For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.